Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1887-11-11
4 FEW FACTS PLAINLY STATED.
All VIII see the Truth in Time and
Wonder that il was Hid SO long.

\ COMMON-SENSE VIEW OF OLYMPIA'S
SITUATION, ~ ONE OF OR MOST IN
TELLIGENT CITIZENS.
ME. EDITOR In occasional trips
away, am frequently confronted with
the remark, from those who know
nothing OF Olympia or, perhaps Of any
other place with Il deep water 'front.'
age: 'Of course Olympia will never
be a large commercial city on account
OF its mud tlat>." Mud flats, indeed !,
Lying Il little more than three thouS-
and feet from channel which Will
float a. deep draught ship as Is Of
ten built, what utter nonsense such Il
remark Is and only cxcusahlc from the
very ignorance it displays. VIII
you kindly tell me of any great city
"by the sea" which has not mud
| flats in front OF it? Boston Is nine
miles from its harbor mouth New
York on the East river side, holds her
steamers and ships on an even keel at
low tide, ii slips, and Il good deal Of
the North river frontage is III the
same condition. Pittsburg at the
junction OF the Allegheny and Mon
ongahela rivers, where they make the
Ohio, has three hundred miles of
shoals in the Ohio, which at its low
stage, has often but two feet of water
upon its shallow places, and vessel
drawing seven feet only, selects her
time of approach.
On this coast, Portland, on the
Willamette" is always crying for more
water (She may get her fill of it in
these prohibition timcs.) San Fran
cisco since 80 when the waves at high
tide washed Montgomery Street, has
pushed out five additional blocks and
streets into the water, and deep-set
ships still anchor, as far out in the
bay as Alcatraz Island. Oakland has
her piers built two miles out, and at
low tide the flats lie bare on each side
of them. In 1866 the time on ferry
boats from San Francisco to Oakland.
was three quarters of an hour; now
1t Is twenty minutes.
At Santa Barbara and Wilmington
(the port of Los Angcles) the ocean
steamers never land. a light draught
boat transports freight and passen-
gers to the shore. At San Diego, they
have piers of about Il mile out, to
where the coast and deep-sca ships
and steamers tie up, about as wide rs
our new wharf, and let me say in pass
ing, that upon these piers, drays,
trucks or hacks are never permitted.
Instead, railroad tracks are put down
and cars for freight and passengers,
quickly transport both to solid ground,
where hotel coaches, &c, stand ready
to receive them.
Large ships no longer enter the har-
Dor at Victoria, b. c., but ut Esqui-
malt, three miles away. OF the other
towns on this coast as far south at the
lsthmus of Panama, | know of none
whose expanse of mud flats, will not
exceed ours by many miles, with this
advantage always in favor of Olympia
that OF possessing as fine q natural
land-locked harbor as the world can
show, which cannot be said of most
of them-Wilmington and Santa Bar
bara conspicuously being little better
than open roadsteads. Then, why
this howl which has been going up for
years about Olympia mud flats?
Watch even the water frontage at Ia
coma, with all its brag of deep water
deep enough, surely, in some places
and my word for it, there are some
rather astonishing displays of slime in
the lower stages of tide, even in that
much vaunted harbor, where on its
deep side, loading ships must be held
in place by half dozen buoys, floats
and anchors. Capt. Morse, who for
several years came to Puget Sound
master of the passenger steamer Da-
kota, arrived in front of Seattle with
his ship, one wild night, with rising
tide and wind blowing con Shore
Many attempts were made to make a
safe landing, but without success, until
finally losing patience and temper, he
turned to the pilot and said: by -,
Captain Waite, is there no place on
Puget Sound where steamer can
anchor in safety?" Yes" said Waite.
Well, put me there" and the pilot
accordingly ran the ship over to Port
Madison, where she anchored for the
night.
Was there ever a time in the mem
J DRY of man when ship of any size
could not find snug harbor and safe
and secure anchorage, elbow high OF
low" at Olympia, where, as Capt
Morse said, is L" the only really good
harbor on Puget Sound?" S.